My love for my goldfish – Amber and Ace has increased every single moment whenever I have seen them happily playing in their own little home of my drawing room; also this motivates me, all the more, to give them the best possible environment and a healthy living.

What To Feed Goldfish? – Goldfish Foods List

In my previous blog, we understood the aquarium requirements for our goldfish; so now, our next step is to introduce our goldfish to their new homes. Not only adding goldfish to our fish tanks, but I shall also cover the various measures that need to be considered for up-keeping and feeding goldfish.Introducing goldfish to our fish tanks – Most of us buy goldfish in pairs and most of them again of the same kinds; therefore, it is advisable that we buy goldfish of the same size and of the same kind. Goldfish are witty and can easily overeat; they are known to eat smaller fish; so, beware, if one of the fish is smaller in size, it may disappear! Are you thinking of not adding more than one in the aquarium? Don’t do that; goldfish love company, and they deserve it as well. Always remember… goldfish tend to live in schools; they will live more happily if they are more than one in a tank.

Also make sure that prior to adding any new goldfish to an existing aquarium, always ensure that it is quarantined for at least two weeks; we don’t want our existing little ones to catch diseases from the new ones.

Change aquarium water adequately, yet regularly – Here’s where the up-keeping starts for our goldfish; just like us, they need clean, eco-friendly environment to live in. We must change the tank’s water at least once a week; don’t change all the tank water together. Perform a 25 percent up to 90 percent water change every week, ensuring that you have stocked the water properly in the aquarium. If nitrates level reaches 20, then ensure that you immediately change 50 percent of the tank’s water.

Clean the fish tank once a week – If you want the goldfish to be healthy and happy, you need to give them a clean place to live in. Many-a-times, water filters may not be able to clean the goldfish’s waste; the water may not even look dirty, but believe me, it is; you need to clean the tank at least one time in a week. The debris may lie between the gravel; use a gravel vacuum cleaner to clean the tank. Do not remove the goldfish while performing the cleaning process. Up-keeping also includes measuring the levels of ammonia; nitrate; nitrite and pH in the water; the liquid water test kit will help here.

Use aplastic bag or a container instead of a net to remove the goldfish, in any case, if you require removing them off the tank. Nets tend to injure the fins of the goldfish easily; also they may get scared of the fish nets and this may in turn cause stress to our goldfish. Soap is poisonous for goldfish and will definitely kill them; so ensure that cleaning the aquarium shouldn’t include any kind of soaps.

Feed goldfish when required – Goldfish, as discussed earlier, tend to easily overeat; give them food only as much needed and whenever required. We must feed the goldfish only an amount that they can gulp in a minute’s time; do not go according to the goldfish food labels; they may be wrong. It is better to underfeed goldfish, rather than overfeed and kill them; also ensure to set-up a time to feed them, either once or twice a day. What all can be including while feeding goldfish? Alike us, for goldfish as well, variety is the spice of life; they also require multiplicity in nutrition.

Along with goldfish pellet food, we can also feed goldfish with live foods including brine shrimp; frozen dried food (soaked well in water) including blood worms or mosquito larvae; vegetarian foods including peas (with skin peeled off), boiled potatoes, broccoli (blanched gently) and zucchini; and raw egg yolk. Always make minute chunks of foods that you offer the goldfish; they have small mouths to eat them, and even smaller stomachs to digest them.

Let goldfish take some sleep – It would not be absolutely correct if I said that goldfish don’t sleep; they sort of tend to take rest. Neither goldfish possess eyelids, nor do they stop swimming, but their bodies hibernate, and when they hibernate, their colour changes slightly, they reduce on their activities and will corner themselves in the fish tank. Keep the fish tank in a cooler place; goldfish don’t like too high or too low temperatures; they do require sunlight, but the water temperature shouldn’t exceed 24°C (75°F). However, goldfish shall stop eating in too cold temperature, so don’t let the aquarium temperature go below 14°C (55°F). Golden, an ideal temperature for goldfish is 23°C (74°F).

Yes, goldfish especially mine love the dark when hibernating; therefore, I believe that we should always turn off the light to let them completely rest. Even better, use the aquarium light only if it is set up in a room that is poorly-lit; try to become a little more eco-friendly; save electricity; save energy and go green instead!

If we follow the up-keeping and feeding goldfish steps on a regular basis, our goldfish will live for decades together, again in a healthy and happy manner.